Lincoln Mansch, Matt McMann and Drew Lytle combined to pitch a one-hitter and Missoula exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning and forged a 10-0 American Legion baseball victory over the Great Falls Electrics at Lindborg-Cregg Field in a game called after seven innings due to the 10-run margin rule.
What started out as a pitchers' duel turned sour for the Electrics as Missoula, which entered the sixth with just one hit of its own, broke through to break a scoreless tie with a seven-hit, seven-run frame. The Mavs, 13-3 in league play, 43-18 overall, added three more to end it in the seventh when Taylor King's walk-off double scored Lytle and Andy Freeman in a game that lasted just 1 hour, 15 minutes.
McMann, a midseason call-up from the Class A squad, got his first win in his first decision with the big club by tossing a perfect three frames in relief of Mansch before Lytle set down the Electrics in order in the seventh.
“Obviously I thought our pitchers were great,” said Missoula manager Brent Hathaway. “We worked ahead in the count all day for the most part. We threw fastballs and curveballs for strikes. ... Matt McMann's success came from the fact that he worked all day ahead in the count. He was throwing his curveball on the first pitch and the second pitch and the third pitch.”
But as the Maverick pitchers dominated, the Missoula hitters struggled. Great Falls starting pitcher Ethan Hortick allowed just a walk and two hit batters until designated hitter Andy Freeman broke up his no-hit bid with a bloop single with two out in the fifth.
“I don't think we had a real good approach at the plate,” Hathaway said of his team's performance in the early going. “I just don't think we were focused up and trying to hit the ball hard.”
The game turned when third baseman Brendan Brown legged out a double with one away in the sixth before getting driven home on Sam Sopko's two-out single. Taylor Nordby, Kendal Maier and Lytle followed with consecutive singles as the Mavs took a 4-0 lead. King added an RBI-bunt single, and after an error and a Ben Roberts' run-scoring single, Missoula was up 7-0.
“Somebody gets on, somebody gets a hit and the next guy thinks, ‘I can do that,' ” Hathaway said. “All of a sudden, the ball is rolling, they start sensing it and that's what this club is all about. Somebody has to get them started.”
After Maier's two-out double in the seventh, Lytle tripled him home, Freeman was hit by a pitch and King belted a one-hop double off the wall in left-center to end it.
The Mavs now travel to Canada to play four games in three days, beginning with Friday night's nine-inning contest at Lethbridge.
“We're headed back in the right direction,” Hathaway said. “Now we need to put together a good Canada trip.”
Great Falls 000 000 0 - 0 1 3
Missoula 000 007 3 - 10 11 0
Ethan Hortick, Spenser Hart (6) and Tyler Brinka. Lincoln Mansch, Matt McMann (4), Drew Lytle (7) and Sean Dwyer. W - McMann (1-0). L - Hortick.
GREAT FALLS - John Reilly 0-3, Hortick 0-3, Casey Johnson 0-3, Tucker Cook 1-2, Brinka 0-2, Hunter Carlyon 0-2, Taylor Shanahan 0-2, Joel LaRance 0-2, Jake Olson 0-2, Hart 0-0.
MISSOULA - Taylor King 2-4, Ben Roberts 1-4, Brendan Brown 1-3, Dwyer 0-4, Sam Sopko 1-2, McMann 0-1, Taylor Nordby 1-4, Kendal Maier 2-4, Lytle 2-3, Andy Freeman 1-2.
2B - King, Brown, Maier. 3B - Lytle. RBIs - King 3, Roberts, Sopko, Maier, Lytle.
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